


Of Love and Zombies

by djupcake



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Christmas Music in November, Demonic Ritual, Discord: Elsanna Shenanigans (Disney), Elsanna Shenanigans Discord Monthly Contest (Disney), F/F, I mean does it count if you just kiss a zombie?, I'm sure it's fine, Technically Necrophilia?, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:53:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28040454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/djupcake/pseuds/djupcake
Summary: This story starts the way all great love stories do. With murder.
Relationships: Anna/Elsa (Disney)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This was originally written for the October Elsanna Fanfiction Contest. If you want to read the other contest entries, you can find them here https://elsanna-shenanigans.tumblr.com/post/635997039034056704/october-2020-contest-lineup-authors-and-links

* * *

This story starts the way all great love stories do.

With murder.

It's October 31st. The thick of autumn dresses the streets with orange leaves crumbling underneath careless feet. The night is young in this quaint suburb underneath the silver glow of a full moon. Families light up their driveways and porches to welcome children in costumes with candy that they place into their bags, buckets, and pillowcases. And in an unlit house, nestled at the end of a cul de sac, Anna has just killed her girlfriend.

She has to keep telling herself it was an accident because, well, it was. Anna didn't plan to kill her on the night of their three-month anniversary. But when 8 PM hit, and Elsa's eyes turned milky white and she began growling and clawing at her, Anna had no choice but to defend herself.

The bloody frying pan drops from her hands and onto the floor with a loud clang, and making sense of this situation isn't going to happen anytime soon so Anna focuses on trying to breathe. The moonlight comes through the blinds of her kitchen, illuminating her girlfriend's lifeless body. The puddle of blood underneath her is a dark crimson, spreading at an alarming rate. And maybe she should clean it up, maybe she should call the police, maybe she should do anything other than hyperventilating in her kitchen...but that's all she does.

That's all she can do since her world was just flipped upside down. Tonight was supposed to be special, they had just come back from a wonderful dinner and had gone back to Anna's place. As soon as the front door closed, there was kissing and hands going places, and noises being made that Anna's never made before. She's decided to finally tell Elsa she loves her and was going to do so when they could finally get their hands off each other.

But that moment never came, and all her hopes and expectations are gone. She'll never get that chance because something happened that made Elsa want to kill her. Or eat her. Or both.

Elsa, the girl she met one year ago on one of the twenty dating apps she downloaded on her phone. Elsa, the girl with stunning blonde-almost-white hair and sexy blue eyes that Anna fell for immediately. Elsa, the super successful banker who may or may not have done some modeling it's hard to tell because she's super vague about it. Elsa, the one she's madly in love with.

Or _was_ madly in love with, since there's no future where she gets to make that love mean something. Hopes and dreams fall onto the same floor that her girlfriend...

...is standing back up.

She's supposed to be dead- well, not _supposed_ to, Anna didn't want her to be dead- and instead Elsa's standing back up. Right on top of her own puddle of blood. And she's groaning like she's waking up from a mid-afternoon nap. Anna picks her frying pan back up and readies it like a bat. But why? Hitting her the first time was hard enough, and no doubt it will be infinitely harder to do it a second time.

But she has to. What did she learn from all those horror movies Elsa forced her to watch at her place? You always make sure that the dead person is actually dead.

Elsa turns around slowly, one hand on her head rubbing the spot that Anna hit. Her eyes are still white and glazed over, her skin is paler than usual, and her cheeks have sunken in. And then she opens her mouth to let out her ghastly wail, her ghoulish words.

"Wow, you really got me good. I'm sorry for scaring you like that."

Anna's face contorts from guilt to fear and confusion. She tightens the grip on her frying pan and whispers, "What the hell…"

Elsa takes a step forward and puts her hands in front of her to show that she means no harm, even though that wasn't the case a few minutes ago. The spot where pan met head is dented and caked with blood, like someone pressed too hard on a jelly donut. "Anna, I know this is a lot to take in."

"I killed you," Anna whispers. And then she points the frying pan at her and repeats louder, "I killed you!"

Elsa jumps a little bit from the sudden movement, but when she notices Anna is still too shocked to move from her spot, she continues forward. "I know. Well, technically I was already dead but-"

"Already dead?!"

"Yes, I can explain everything if you just-"

"Explain what?!"

"This. Me dying and you with the frying pan and-"

"What is going on?!"

"Anna!" Elsa grabs her shoulders with her cold, bony fingers. Up this close, Anna realizes that Elsa's stunning hair is stunning for a completely different reason. Thick, blonde locks have receded into thin, white strands that barely travel past her shoulders. And despite their shriveled state, her hands are still strong. "Just give me a second to explain, and everything will make sense...hopefully."

This is too much. All of it, and Elsa alive and speaking should instill a tiny bit of relief but it really doesn't. It just leaves Anna wondering if she really _did_ die, and this is her brain's messed up way of coming to terms with it. Without any substantial answers, what can Anna do other than nod and catch her breath?

"Okay...good." Elsa closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "In the broadest of terms, I'm what you would call...a zombie. Last year, I was the victim of some gross demonic ritual that went wrong. The cultists didn't draw the summoning circle incorrectly, and one of them said the wrong incantation. So, they all ended up dying and I, well, I ended up stuck between the realms of the living and the dead. Most days I'm just fine and, you know, alive but whenever there's a full moon I turn into a mindless, undead being that...kinda wants to kill everything. A zombie, if you will."

Anna's breath catches in her throat, "So that means…"

Elsa frowns like she got caught eating from Anna's secret chocolate stash again. "Yes...I _was_ trying to kill you. But I don't want to do that anymore! I _never_ wanted to do that. This is the first time I've been a zombie and could still control my cognitive functions. I think when you 'killed' me, it must have woken up my mind. I mean I'm still stuck in this body until tomorrow, but at least I won't have to worry about doing something awful."

Despite the odds, this is all making a little more sense to Anna. It's still a little terrifying and goes against everything she knows about the afterlife, but it's getting a little less harder to believe. Perhaps it's because Elsa speaks in such a convincing and assuring way that makes you believe anything she tells you.

The tension she feels in her shoulders goes away, and she asks for good measure, "So, you're really dead?"

"As of right now, yes."

"But you won't be tomorrow?"

"Yes. I'm glad you understand."

"And this isn't some twisted Halloween prank gone horribly wrong?"

Elsa smiles, and it instills some more convincing in Anna because even with chapped, undead lips, Elsa's smile still produces butterflies in her stomach. Her hands let go of Anna's shoulders and she taps the top of her chest. "Listen," she says.

Despite Elsa telling her she doesn't want to hurt her, Anna's cautious when she leans forward. She keeps her eyes on Elsa until the last possible second, and then she presses her ear to Elsa's chest and hears…

...nothing.

There's nothing.

No thumping, no exhale or inhale, not even the muffled roar of blood flowing.

And now she believes this is real. This is happening. Ten minutes ago, she was making out by the front door next to a totally alive Elsa. Five minutes ago, she was on the verge of tears while looking at the body of a dead Elsa. And now she was holding a frying pan and talking to an undead Elsa.

"Holy crap," Anna says breathlessly as she takes her head off of Elsa's chest. "And this has been happening for a year?"

She nods, "And believe me, it's...not ideal."

"And you can't die? Even if someone aims for the head?"

"Not that I know of. I've stayed alive, kinda, for this long and I always wake up free of any gaping wounds or blood. I mean it helps that I kinda live far away from people."

"Oh my god..." Anna places her hands on Elsa's arms to comfort her like she always does, and she jumps a little as she feels her coarse, wrinkled skin. "Sorry, I just...wasn't expecting that."

"Don't worry, I know it's a lot to take in," Elsa assures her. "But now thanks to you, I can finally get my life back."

Anna looks at her curiously, "What do you mean?"

"I did some research and it turns out that the only way to undo the effects of the ritual is to do it again with the same conditions. I haven't been able to do that until now because of the whole, you know, being not alive thing. Now that I have control of my body, I can finally go back to the forest and make this right."

"The ritual happened in a forest?"

"An abandoned cabin in the forest, yes."

"Ah yeah, even creepier."

"Hey I'm not the one that chose the location," Elsa argues. "Anyway, I need to go. I have to complete this before sunrise." She walks away from the kitchen, steps past her own blood puddle, and opens the front door.

"Wait, go where? The forest?" Anna asks.

"No, I need to prepare first. I'm going to get supplies at the one place I can blend in without getting asked too many questions."

"Where's that?"

Elsa puts her hood up, partially covering her gaping wound, and she responds, "Wal-Mart."

* * *

How many paper towels does it take to clean your girlfriend's blood off your kitchen floor? Because apparently it's more than one roll.

It's been about ten minutes since Elsa left, six minutes since Anna could finally move again, and one minute since she's hit her head against her pantry while grabbing more paper towels. And all she's been thinking about through all ten minutes is why she didn't go with Elsa.

Like yes, she has every reason in the world to freak out about this, and Elsa's a capable enough person to handle her own business, but Anna has this feeling like she shouldn't have let her go alone. And now she's on her way to Wal-Mart to get ritual supplies while Anna's realizing that maybe she should wet the paper towels first...

What stopped her?

It couldn't have been the possibility that this is all a dream because that trope's overused and honestly her dreams are _much_ more alarming. And yes, Elsa's new appearance is a little...scary, but not enough for Anna to keep from looking past that and seeing Elsa. _Her_ Elsa. The one she's still hopelessly in love with.

The more Anna thinks about it, the less it makes sense that she let her girlfriend do this crazy thing without her. Especially when another question pops into her head as she wipes the remaining streaks of blood off her kitchen.

What if something goes wrong?

If Elsa makes some sort of mistake redoing the ritual, then she could be dead for good. Her last words to Elsa would be "Where's that?" Which is _much_ less profound than "I love you", even though she doesn't necessarily want those to be her last words to Elsa either. In fact,she doesn't even want to _think_ about last words.

She wants to go help her undead girlfriend do a stupid, crazy thing!

Anna stands up and washes her hands, wiping them with the last paper towels she has left. The closest Wal-Mart to her house is five minutes away (because obviously), which means she should get there before Elsa's even gotten to the checkout. She grabs her trusty frying pan and the keys from the couch where she tossed them during their hot makeout session, and opens her front door.

Elsa standing on her welcome mat makes her jump fifty feet in the air.

"Holy sh-" Anna catches herself on her still opening door. "I thought you left!"

Elsa looks at her defeated, "My car wouldn't start. Can I borrow yours?"

It takes a few more seconds for Anna's mind to reset and for her would to come back to her body. She blinks and says, "W-wait, have you just been out here sulking this whole time until you were ready to knock on my door?"

Elsa looks away and mumbles, "Maybe. Don't worry about it."

This is perfect. Or at least as perfect as things can be in this situation. Anna didn't have to chase Elsa down, and she can use her keys as leverage. She shakes her head with confidence and says, "I'm coming with you!"

Elsa's pupil-lacking eyes widen, "What?! Anna, you really don't have to do that."

"I know, but I want to."

"But I kept this secret from you for months," Elsa reminds her. "And I'm probably going to have to fight a demon."

"No, _we're_ probably gonna have to fight a demon," Anna corrects. And before Elsa gets another chance to protest, she's already walking out to the driveway and unlocking her car.

"Anna-"

"No buts!" she exclaims from the driver's side.

"I didn't say but."

"Well whatever you're gonna say, I say no. I'm coming with you and that's final." Anna enters her car and closes the door before Elsa can say anything else. Seconds later, the passenger side opens and Elsa slips inside, pouting at her.

With a satisfied smirk, Anna starts her car and peels out of her driveway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is the second part of the story. If you're reading this before reading the first part...why?

* * *

It isn't necessary for Anna to go twenty above the speed limit, just as it isn't necessary for her to be going on a crazy adventure on the spookiest of nights. But she's doing both of those things anyway.

As she pulls into a parking spot, she turns to a frustrated, silent Elsa and sighs, "You can't seriously be upset at me for coming with you."

"I'm _not_ upset at you," Elsa replies, visibly upset, "I just didn't want you putting yourself in harm's way like this."

"And I was just supposed to let _you_ do that yourself?" Anna shakes her head. "Not how this works, babe."

Elsa eyes her wearily, "...babe?"

"What?"

"I...you still like me?"

Anna looks at her as if she can't believe she just said that. "I can't believe you just said that! Of course I still like you, hell I-" She stops herself before dropping the massive L-bomb, wondering if this is the best time to do so. After a second of reassessing the situation, she decides it's best to wait. "Elsa, we're okay. Nothing's changed between us aside from, you know, the whole being a zombie thing."

"That's a really big change, Anna," Elsa protests.

"Not to me," Anna replies sternly. "To me, you're still Elsa."

Underneath the obnoxiously bright streetlamps, Anna can visibly see the anxiousness roll of Elsa's boney shoulders. And she wonders for a second if zombies can cry.

* * *

Because it's Halloween night, no one in Wal-Mart bats an eye at Elsa's less-than-stellar complexion while they're perusing the arts and crafts aisle. They must think she's got killer face paint on. Or she's addicted to crack.

"Are you sure we need more?" Anna asks as Elsa drops a can of red paint and three brushes into their shopping cart. Right next to another can of red paint, two large flashlights, seven candles, a lighter, and a pocket knife.

"I honestly don't know. I've never drawn a summoning circle before," Elsa responds.

"And you think you can pay for all this? I can help if you need me to."

Elsa shakes her head, strands of hair poking out from underneath her hoodie. "No trust me, I've been saving up some money just for this occasion."

The thought of that amuses Anna. She pictures Elsa having a big jar at home labeled 'Demon Ritual Fund' and every time she thinks about the demon, she puts five dollars in the jar. "How much money?"

"...don't worry about it." Elsa turns the corner at the end of the aisle, preventing Anna from asking again about her demon savings.

But that's least on her mind right now anyway. She fixates more on what she didn't say when they were in the car.

They still had a job to do, and a love confession felt like it should come _after_ reversing a demonic ritual. But wait...what if something went wrong and she never got a chance to say it? What if the ritual goes wrong and Elsa ends up eating her? What if somehow _she_ turns into a demon and tries to kill Elsa for real? What if Elsa didn't love her back?!

Great, now Anna's overthinking it.

She catches up to Elsa in the women's clothing aisle, her pale fingers are navigating a clearance rack with great intent. "Hey, could you help me find a black robe or something? All the cultists were wearing black robes."

"I really don't think you'll find one on clearance, Elsa," Anna remarks, holding back from asking why she hadn't already bought all of these things beforehand.

Elsa shrugs, "It's worth a shot. Besides, do you know anywhere else I can look?"

"Uh…" This is surprisingly difficult for Anna to answer. Although to be fair, she has maybe one black shirt in her entire wardrobe; warm colors and alternating between the same three flannels are more her style. And then a terribly silly idea comes into her head, and she says, "Wait here, I think I've got something."

She leaves the cart with Elsa and jogs towards the front of the store, showing more energy than anyone has in a Wal-Mart for the past forty years. The aisles already have more of a Christmas theme, but she knows that they still have at least one small aisle dedicated to super-last-minute Halloween shoppers. Sure enough, it's by the self-checkout aisles and almost picked clean. But thankfully it still has the one thing she's looking for, and she unhooks it and walks back to Elsa.

Anna finds her a few racks away from where they were before, and she smiles proudly while handing her the thing she asked for...technically.

Even as a zombie, Elsa's still cute when she giggles. "A Grim Reaper costume," she says amused, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Truthfully, Anna's glad that Elsa likes her idea. She was afraid that it might have been a little inappropriate. After an internal sigh of relief, she says, "See? You needed me after all."

Elsa smiles at her, and it's warm and grateful. "I...thank you, Anna."

She immediately notices the hesitation. But before Anna can ask about it, Elsa's once again on the move.

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, zombies can drive just as well as their living counterparts. Except they use their turn signals.

Anna's terrible with directions and being told what to do while driving, and the forest is a little complicated to get to, so Elsa offers to drive. Under the streetlights of the highway and amidst the darkness of the car's interior, it feels just like their usual night drives. The ones they would take when they had nothing to do, but weren't tired enough to sleep. The ones they would take when Elsa had a long day at work and just wanted to rest her head before Anna took her home.

It feels the same, except for the paint cans and flashlights in the backseat. And the whole undead girlfriend thing.

"You've got something on your mind," Elsa states, even though that's typically a question. It seems as if zombies also have good peripheral vision, and they can sense when their girlfriend has been awkwardly staring at them for the past five minutes.

"I...it's…" Anna sighs, "You said this happens every full moon, right?"

"Me dying? Yes."

Anna taps her fingers on her seatbelt, "Well, I mean please don't take offense to this, but it's pretty easy to see when the moon's a big, bright circle. And I'm assuming you prepare in advance when a full moon's coming. So, why didn't we just reschedule our anniversary dinner?"

Elsa nods and bites her lip, affirming that it's a fair question to ask. "I was going to tell you tonight. But I got scared that, you know, things would be over between us when you found out. It's selfish, but I guess I just wanted to hold on to _us_ for a little bit longer."

That's fair, Anna empathizes with keeping words unsaid due to uncertainty. And Elsa has a right to be scared, their relationship is still new enough that it's too soon to tell if it's going to work out. But then again...

"You literally tried to bite off my neck."

Elsa turns to her and grins, "Hey you're usually into that."

Anna frowns at her.

"Too soon for jokes, got it."

"Just...it would have been nice to have a bit of a heads-up that I also might have died tonight. That's all."

"I know...I know." Elsa sighs and adjusts her grip on the steering wheel, "I'm sorry, I made a really dumb mistake and it put you in danger. I don't know how, but I want to make things right between us when we're done with this."

It's strange. Anna knows she has a right to be mad, but while she's not going to process the whole 'almost dying' thing for a while, she can't fault Elsa for what she did. Because she's human- _still_ human- and they make bad choices when they're scared or stressed. And isn't it so like Elsa to think so much about Anna that she neglects to look out for herself? Hell, their first date turned out to be Anna taking care of Elsa at her house because she'd rather suffer through a cold than postpone their museum visit.

It's clear that Elsa's holding a lot of guilt behind her admittedly-still-scary eyes, and that's not something she should hold on to. So, Anna places her hand by the gearshift with her palm facing up. Elsa notices the hand and looks at her girlfriend with a look that's both asking for permission and wondering if she's sure about this. Anna nods, and- oh.

Okay.

Zombie hands are cold.

Very cold. She knows this now, and if it were anyone else's hand she would immediately pull away. But it's Elsa's hand, and there's still a familiarity to it from the way she knows how tight to hold on and the way her thumb does that thing where it brushes against her skin.

"I will accept a roast beef sandwich as an apology," she says pointedly.

Elsa laughs so hard that she snorts, and things are back to normal again. Well not really, they still had some dangerous occult stuff to do, but at least they wouldn't have to do it with any lingering zombie elephants in the room

They drive along the highway until buildings are replaced by trees. Even though it's harder to see past the headlights, Elsa confidently makes a right turn between a large, green tree and another large, green tree. The road's a little bumpy and uneven, specks of dirt and rocks continuously hit the side of the car. Just as Anna's wondering how much this is going to ruin the suspension on her car, Elsa slows to a halt.

"We're here," she says dauntingly.

The headlights illuminate the end of a dirt path and a chipped, wooden sign that reads _Solace Cabin_. Ironic, considering how uncomfortable Anna feels when the lights go off and she's faced with the eerie frame of the wooden structure.

Elsa hands her a plastic bag and a flashlight which she puts in the hand that's not holding a frying pan. "I'll carry the paint inside if you can hold onto the candles," Elsa tells her. "Watch your step when we get to the stairs, one of the boards is missing."

Anna nods and follows closely behind. The way Elsa moves confidently up the stairs and through the front door frame tells Anna that she's done this trip more than once. It's a testament to her bravery that she could spend more than ten seconds inside, especially in the dark. And yes Anna's afraid of the dark, but who isn't?

The moon is still with them, at least. It peeks through the tattered curtains and the holes in the roof, providing slightly comforting slivers of silver. This and the added brightness from their flashlights provide some much-needed illumination. Elsa walks to the center of the room, puts her hands on her hips, and takes note of their surroundings. Or rather the lack of them. Any semblance of homeliness in this place is long gone save for a barren fireplace, a broken rocking chair, and empty cupboards.

After placing her bags down, Elsa takes a deep breath, squares up her shoulders, and says, "Alright, let's get to work."

* * *

Turns out that when it comes to drawing summoning circles, Elsa's a bit of an artist.

Anna compares the freshly painted circle to the picture on her phone, searching for any angles that might be off, lines that were drawn in the wrong places, and if there are enough moons. "It looks exactly like the one on the picture," she says confidently.

"Oh thank goodness, because I'm out of paint," Elsa replies, laying down the last candle along the circle and lighting it. "Now, I just need to put on the robe and we can begin the ritual. The moon's at its highest which doesn't actually affect anything, but it's like right above the cabin and I think that's pretty cool."

"Anything else you need me to do?" Anna asks.

Elsa tears open the costume bag and unravels the robe, when she puts it on it makes her look like she's graduating from ghoul academy. "I need you to recite the incantation," she replies. "It's the next picture on my phone."

Anna swipes across the screen and stares in confusion, "Uh...this is just the topless picture you sent me a couple of weeks ago."

"Ugh, swipe the other way."

She swipes twice across the screen and is greeted with a picture of an incantation written on notebook paper, around it were numerous attempts at drawing the summoning circle. "Got it, do I need to memorize it or anything?"

"No, you just need to read it." Elsa pulls up the bottom of the robe as she steps inside the summoning circle. She sits down cross-legged with her elbows resting on her knees. "And once you do...then the demon should appear."

Which means there's no turning back. Once Anna speaks the words, then it's up to Elsa- no, both of them- to fight a literal demon to get her life back. And if they failed, then Elsa would be dead forever and Anna might also be killed considering that she's an accomplice. No pressure.

"Hey," Elsa says when she notices the uncertainty on Anna's face, "It's gonna be okay."

"I know, I just…" Maybe now was the best time to say it. "Elsa-"

"We've got this. And besides, there's no one else I can trust to fight a demon with more than you."

Right. They can do this, they _have_ to do this. And when all is said and done, and she no longer has to worry about her girlfriend trying to take chunks out of her during every full moon, then Anna can say the words she was hoping to say all night. But this comes first.

"Alright, I'm ready."

Elsa smiles and straightens her posture. "Let's do this," she says before closing her eyes.

Anna's sweaty palms make it harder to hold on to the frying pan, so she lays it down on the ground. After a deep breath punctuated by the smothering silence of the forest, she speaks the incantation.

_In the shadows, deep and vast  
_ _Bring back the light that once was cast  
_ _Dive down deep into the sound  
_ _Bless us with our Mother found_

The reaction is immediate. As soon as Anna speaks that last word, the candles are snuffed out all at once. It wasn't a windy night.

The painted circle lights up and bathes its inner inhabitant in a dark red glow, and with a force that lifts Elsa's hood from her head. Elsa remains stoic at the center and shakes her head when Anna tries to step towards her. This is what's supposed to happen, Anna can tell that by Elsa not freaking out. The light grows stronger and brighter until it covers every square inch of the cabin and filters out through the roof. Anna has to cover her eyes with her arm to keep from being blinded. And then, an unseen force pushes away the candles and everything around the circle.

Anna falls to the floor but picks herself up just in time to see that the red light has simmered down to a muted glow. Elsa remains unfazed at the center…

...and a figure emerges from behind her.

Anna screams, "Elsa, behind you!" It's successful in getting Elsa to open her eyes, scramble forward, and narrowly avoid a hand swiping down at the spot she was just sitting in. She regroups with Anna outside the circle, and they get a better look at the demon together.

She's wearing a tattered black dress that hangs off her thin, twitchy frame. Her hair is stringy and dark and barely touches her frail shoulders. She steps forward with her bare feet and lifts her head up to show them her face, shriveled and scarred with holes where her eyes should be. In a low, raspy voice, she says, _**"The debt must be paid."**_

And with a speed that betrays her figure, the demon runs forward with her hands outstretched towards Elsa. Instinctively, Anna steps in front of her but is effortlessly knocked away by strong, freezing hands. She falls to the floor with a hard thud that also sends her frying pan skidding across the room in the cover of darkness. When her vision refocuses, Anna realizes that she's alone in the cabin.

But not for long.

With a ghastly shriek, Elsa and the demon come tumbling back in from the outside. There's a deep scratch along Elsa's side that makes Anna uneasy. This early into the fight and she's already injured.

As Elsa struggles from underneath the demon's grasp, she turns to Anna and says, "Is this what it felt like when I was trying to kill you?!"

"Kinda yeah," Anna replies, rubbing the back of her head.

"Well it really sucks!" Elsa successfully rolls out of the way when the demon raises her hand to swipe at her again. And she kicks her in the side, sending her tumbling onto the summoning circle. "Give me the knife!"

Anna takes the pocket knife out of her, well, pocket and tosses it to Elsa. It looks like Elsa's about to smile and say thank you, but she's tackled back down to the ground before she gets the chance. Elsa clutches onto the knife like her life depends on it, even as she's lifted up by the collar of her robe. This gives her a much-needed idea to slip out of her robe and slide underneath the demon. She flips open the knife as the demon wonders where she went, and jumps onto her back, plunging the knife right into the part of her shoulder that still has enough skin to puncture. The demon lets out a shrill, teeth-rattling screech.

Anna knows she can't stand back and watch this happen, she needs to help her girlfriend not get murdered. But how- frying pan! Of course!

She runs towards the fireplace, where she heard the frying pan hit against, and almost trips over the trusty kitchenware in the darkness. Now with a 'weapon' of her own, Anna re-assesses the situation. Elsa and the demon are constantly trading attacks since the size of the knife means she needs to get in close. They're leaving each other with deep scratches and punctures, and even though she knows Elsa can't actually die right now, it still pains Anna to see her like this.

Filled with determination, Anna runs toward the pair and yells at Elsa to move out of the way. Elsa pushes herself off of the demon and uses that momentum to roll backward. Anna takes her place, winds up her shot, and- in a moment that would benefit greatly from life having a slow-motion button- she smashes the frying pan right along the side of the demon's head.

The sight of her falling to the ground is eerily similar to how Elsa fell when she was hit. Except there's no blood and she gets up almost immediately.

And now the demon knows Anna's a threat.

There's a crater-like dent near her ear, now hanging loosely onto her head, and she lets out another shriek. As she rushes forward, Anna readies herself to take another swing.

But a sudden flash of black goes right past Anna and envelops the demon. She recognizes it as the robe.

Elsa runs past her and wraps her arms around the demon to fully trap her upper body in the cloth, and then sends them both against the cabin wall. As the demon thrashes in her grasp, Elsa keeps herself low and presses up against her midsection. "Hit her again!" she yells to Anna.

And Anna does so. She takes the pan and swings it in the part of the robe that the head should be at. The force is strong enough that the demon's head hits the back of the wall hard. Anna wonders whether the crack she hears is from the wood or the demon's skull.

Finally, once again there's silence.

It's past midnight, officially November 1st. Families have long settled in for the night, and the lights turn off as if to usher out this eerie season. In the forest, orange trees blanketed by darkness line along the ground in uneven rows and columns, creating natural pathways and a timeless setting. Nestled among the trees, in a place far away from prying eyes, is a cabin with the false promise of peace and comfort. And inside those decrepit walls, Anna and Elsa have just killed a demon.

Anna catches her breath, and Elsa lets go of the body. It lands with a comical thud between them. Elsa pulls her thin, white hair out of her face and massages her dislocated jaw. "Well, that was...something."

"Yeah, it was." Anna takes her eyes away from the body and focuses on her girlfriend, covered head to toe with scratches and bite marks. It fills her with guilt, she wonders if she could have done more in this fight, but she's also grateful that Elsa's alive...for the most part. She's happy that she didn't lose her.

Elsa steps over the body and reaches for Anna's hand, "Are you-"

Anna pulls her in close and kisses her.

She sets aside any and all reservations, looks right past the undead exterior, and kisses her girlfriend like her life depends on it. And aside from her lips being colder and more chapped, it doesn't feel all that different.

When she pulls them apart, Anna says breathlessly, "God this better not awaken anything in me."

Elsa laughs, Anna laughs, the body on the floor groans.

Of course it's not over.

With an exasperated look, Elsa moves to finish the demon off. But Anna places the frying pan in front of her and says, "I've got this."

She kneels down and straddles herself on top of the demon. After allowing one final groan (possibly a cry for mercy), Anna swings the frying pan overhead and brings it down across the head-shaped part of the robe. It lands with a squishy crack, and just to make sure the demon was finished off, Anna hit her again.

And then she hit her again. And again. And again.

In fact, she didn't stop hitting her until the pan literally broke off the handle. Sensing that as a sign to stop, Anna stands back and dusts her hands off. She looks at a stunned Elsa and shrugs. "Can't be too safe, you know?"

* * *

With Anna's help, Elsa drags the body back inside the summoning circle and they get to work resetting the room. The final step to gain her life back was for Elsa to repeat the ritual, this time with the demon as a sacrifice. They found and relit all the candles, and did their best to readjust the robe on the demon without having to look at the gruesome remains of her head.

And then they were ready.

Anna wraps her arm along Elsa's waist as she tries her best to swipe across her phone's cracked screen, an unfortunate casualty of the battle. Especially since Elsa just finished paying it off.

"Can you see the words?" Elsa asks her.

"Yeah," Anna responds. Thankfully the cracks are situated mostly at the bottom corner of the phone, and Elsa's also zoomed in so that the words are easier to read.

"Good." Elsa rests her arm along her girlfriend's shoulder, lets out a breath, and says, "Alright, let's finish this."

"Hey, I love you."

Elsa turns to Anna, and despite the lack of pupils it's still easy to tell when she's surprised. This wasn't how Anna planned to say it- well to be honest the plan went out the window hours ago- and maybe she shouldn't have chosen the most abrupt time to confess. But this night was already so goddamn twisted, and waiting any longer probably would have killed her.

So, she finally went with her impulse.

"I, uh...what?" Elsa asks eloquently.

Anna can't help but smile at the little bit of relief that washes over her from finally saying it. "I couldn't stand keeping it to myself anymore," she explains. "I was going to tell you earlier but, you know, things came up."

"But after everything you've been through tonight, I...why? How can you still love me after this?"

"Because I just _do_ , Elsa. You make me feel happy and appreciated all the time, you're always looking out for me, and honestly every time I think about you, this pretty little flute plays in my head. That's why I came with you tonight. Because I love you and I wanted to protect you."

"Anna…"

"Hey you don't have to say it back right away," Anna assures her. "I know I picked a really weird time to say it, and we've still gotta send this demon back to hell or wherever she came from. I just...I wanted you to know how I felt. That's all."

Elsa blinks, and her mouth is open but there aren't any words coming out. Anna's caught her completely off-guard, which makes them even tonight. Finally, she's able to say, "Right. Demon. Ritual."

After another minute to regain her composure, Elsa turns the phone back on, and they recite the incantation together. Just as before, the candles are snuffed out and a red light emits from the summoning circle. Except it's accompanied by the sound and smell of searing flesh, and the light is much, _much_ brighter.

Closing her eyes doesn't prove to help all that much, so Anna embraces Elsa to avoid the intense glow.

It builds and builds. The light once again paints the entire cabin red. The demon's flesh continues to burn away. Elsa's arms wrap tightly around Anna. The ground shakes. The candles fly across the room. Brighter. Louder. Stronger. And then suddenly…

It stops.

The ground stops moving, the smell of burnt flesh is gone, and the red light stops its assault on their tightly-shut eyes. There's silence again, save for the candles rolling on the floor. And Anna doesn't feel the light assaulting her vision, but she still feels the warmth.

Wait no, this warmth is different. It's softer, not as intense, and situated along her back where...where Elsa's fingers are. Anna tightens her embrace across Elsa's waist and feels that same warmth along her skin. Skin that feels smoother, devoid of any deep cuts and lacerations. And with her ear pressed unknowingly to Elsa's chest, she hears something she didn't hear before.

A heartbeat.

She's brimming with excitement just from hearing this humble thumping underneath Elsa's skin. And when she hears Elsa say her name, she looks back up and that excitement turns to joy as she sees those deep, blue eyes once again. It's a joy so strong that she starts to cry, suddenly and strongly. Like a dam just burst.

She smiles through the tears and says, "You're back!"

Elsa's smiling too, and the cuts and bruises seemed to have healed themselves, but she looks concerned as she places her hands on Anna's cheeks. "Anna, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Anna nods and sniffles. "Happy tears. These are happy tears." And yeah, maybe this is a bit of an extreme reaction, she was only devoid of an alive Elsa for a few hours, but she's an emotional person, damn it. And it beats the alternative of _never_ seeing an alive Elsa again.

"Oh, thank goodness." Elsa kisses her forehead and wipes her tears with her thumb.

"So…" Anna sniffles again, but it turns into an inconvenient, mucusy snort. "It worked?"

Elsa giggles, "Yes, it worked. We did it, Anna, we killed a demon." She places her no-longer-boney fingers on Anna's chin and tips her head up so she's looking back into her eyes, "I couldn't have done this without you, I owe you so much."

And even though Anna's still crying and sniffling, Elsa leans forward and kisses her. Tender and sweet, grateful and caring, soft and alive.

When Elsa pulls away, Anna hiccups and says jokingly, "Eww, why would you do that? My face is still gross and wet."

Elsa rolls her eyes, "Oh please, you kissed me when I was a zombie."

"Y-yeah, that's fair." Anna snuggles up to her once again, only feeling a little guilty about staining her shirt with tears. After what they've been through tonight, that's probably the least of their worries. "It's so much better kissing you when you're not dead."

Once they finished cleaning up their mess and placed everything back in the car, it was finally time to head back. Anna floated the idea of burning down the cabin, but Elsa said that the last thing they wanted to do was start a forest fire. Not during this time of year.

Anna lets Elsa borrow her phone so she can play some much-needed music during the drive back. And it doesn't surprise Anna one bit that she chooses to play Christmas music. "You ready to go?" Elsa asks amidst the sound of a familiar bell melody.

"Yeah. I think I'm done with forests for a while."

Elsa nods and puts the car in reverse. But before she backs up, she says abruptly, "Hey, are you hungry?"

"Starving," Anna says immediately.

"Same, let's go get some food."

"What are you thinking?"

"I don't know, but I do know I owe you a roast beef sandwich."

"Well, I'm definitely okay with that."

"Awesome."

Elsa puts in new directions, backs up the car, and turns it around so they can finally be rid of this place for good. Dirt and rocks once again kick against the exterior when she drives back down the path, the moon begins to descend from its apex, the wind introduces itself with a whispered breeze, and this brief, eventful, and absolutely macabre chapter of Elsa and Anna's lives is finally over. And when they escape the forest and find themselves back on the asphalt, Elsa says just as abruptly:

"Oh, and I love you too."


End file.
